Escape
by Evil Remy
Summary: He hadn't heard from her in months. And then in the middle of the night, she's calling him, sobbing down the phone. What else can he do but go to her? B/J All Human. M for language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So. I wrote a new story. Woo. Here's the first chapter. It's just a short prologue, but there'll be more.**

He did not expect to be woken up at 2am. He'd had a busy night. Well. That was a fucking lie. He'd spent hours eating junk food and watching girly movies with his 15 year old niece in an attempt to cheer her up after she was sent to his quaint little town for the summer.

It turns out that his brother-in-law was not happy with catching his precious little Rosie making out with a high school Junior.

Jasper wasn't exactly happy about it himself, but he remembers being a teenager, and all the hormones and parent hating and frankly terrible life choices.

At least Rose hadn't dyed her hair green.

So he ate pizza and ice cream and watched truly evil girly movies. Because she was stuck in Forks for the next 3 months. And while he loved his small, wacky little town, it was a major culture shock when he first moved here.

Rosalie had been born and raised in Seattle, which, while only 3 hours away, was a completely different place to Forks. Hell, most days it was a completely different planet.

Rose had stumbled to the room that was hers for the foreseeable future, collapsing into a sugar coma most likely filled with dreams of whatever teen-heart-throb Jasper had just endured an evening of. He made his way to his own little hideaway on the ground floor, collapsing into his own large bed.

He'd planned to pass out till around midday the next day.

He did not plan to be woken by his phone screeching uncomfortably close to his ear at 2am.

He did not expect the name that flashed up on the caller ID.

The woman who hadn't spoken to him in 6 months.

The woman who'd been his best friend since childhood.

He did not expect her to finally break her unprecedented silence at 2AM.

He did not expect for the caller ID to reveal that it was Bella calling.

He did not plan to have this girl, _his girl_, sobbing down the telephone.


	2. Chapter 2

She woke up from her fitful nap, wondering if the past 8 months had been a dream.

But this wasn't her house. This wasn't even the apartment they'd moved into after they lost the house. This was Mrs Cope's apartment, with the flowery curtains. And she was asleep in the recliner in the corner of the living room, while her children slept on the sofa.

She couldn't believe that this was how her life was going.

He hadn't always been like this.

He hadn't.

He'd been sweet. And kind. And caring. And he had loved her. Once. He had loved their children. Had tried his best to make them happy.

It seemed so clichéd now.

He'd lost his job. He'd started drinking. Then he'd started insulting, controlling. Then he'd started hitting her. Punching her.

It felt like a dream. Like some made for TV movie. But it was her life. She couldn't seem to wrap her head around that at first.

It was her life. She'd made the choices that had lead her here.

She needed to help him.

But then...

Then he'd hurt their children. He'd hurt them. Physically left marks on them that would heal. But they'd always remember this. That their father had left marks on them. And that she hadn't protected them.

She'd been curled up in the corner. It had been sweet, kind Mrs Cope that had burst into her apartment with a fucking shotgun and chased her husband away. Made him flee in terror before helping Bella to her feet and ushering them into the safety of her apartment.

She'd not been able to get herself out of the nightmare that had become her life. It had taken her 70 year old neighbour to drag her out.

She couldn't go back to that apartment. Isaac and Aubrey were curled up together on Mrs Cope's couch. Her three year old daughter had a split lip, and the right side of her five year old son's face was turning yellow.

She felt sick to her stomach. She'd let them get hurt.

"Dear, are you okay?" She whipped her head around as Mrs Cope came in, holding Poppy in her arms.

"Yes Mrs Cope. Thank you so much for everything," She whispered.

"It's no problem my dear. Poppy here woke up a little while ago, so I gave her a bottle. Is your friend still on his way?"

"Thank you," She replied as she took her youngest daughter into her arms, wincing slightly as her chubby little legs kicked her ribs as she snuggled in. "It's about a four hour drive from Forks. But knowing how he drives, he'll make it in 3."

"Well I hope he's being careful. The weather took a turn for the worse while you were resting. It looks like we're in for quite the storm."

Mrs Cope patted her hand before shuffling back to her room. Bella spared a glance at the clock in the corner of the apartment, noticing that it had been a couple of hours since she'd called Jasper. She didn't know who else to call. She didn't have any friends left in this city. She'd pushed everyone away, trying desperately to keep her life together. And she'd pushed Jasper the hardest. But he'd been her closest friend for over two decades, and she knew even though she'd cut him out of her life, that if she needed him, he'd come running.

So she'd called. She'd sobbed down the phone, told him what had happened. Then he told her he was on his way, and to sit tight, and that everything would be okay.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd believed that everything would be okay.

But she hoped now that it would be.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where the fuck are we?" Rose asks as he pulls his car up in a shady as fuck neighbourhood. "I thought they lived in some swanky neighbourhood?"

He hadn't been to Bella's house in well over a year. The last time he had seen her and the kids, she'd been visiting Charlie in Forks, and even that had been months ago now.

"I've no idea. She was crying to hard to really get a whole lot out of her apart from the address."

The pair climb out of the car, Rosalie making a mad dash to the front door of the building, Jasper close behind.

"Buzz number 34," He shouts, and just as he reaches his niece, the door releases, and they both stumble inside.

"This must be where hope goes to die," Rosalie mutters as they make their way to the decrepit elevator. Jasper shakes his head at her. She isn't exactly wrong. The dark beige walls and concrete floors don't exactly make this the happiest place on earth.

But what he really wants to know is what the fuck Bella is doing here. James was a lawyer at a fairly prestigious law firm. While they weren't exactly rich, they had a nice house in an upscale neighbourhood and Jasper couldn't figure why he was in this hole of a neighbourhood.

But mostly he wanted to know why Bella had been sobbing inconsolably down the phone at him.

The elevator creaked and groaned as it made it's way to the third floor.

"I'm fairly certain that this is how disaster movies start."

"Shut up Rosie."

"No. Really. I'm pretty sure that it happened on a SyFy movie I watched last week."

"Shut up Rosie."

"The entire building imploded."

"Shut up Rosie."

The elevator shuddered as it stopped on the desired floor, and both Whitlock's exited as quickly as possible.

Just in case.

The hallway up here is just as depressing as in the lobby, and the lack of lighting in the hallway makes it soul-sucking in a whole new way.

"There's 34," Jasper says, towing Rosalie along by her jacket, knocking insistenly on the door.

The door cracks open an inch, and Jasper can see an older woman through the gap between the door, her eyes narrowed at him, her face obscured by the chain that connects the door to it's frame.

"Are you Mrs Cope?" The woman eyes Jasper, before casting her eyes to Rose behind him.

"Yes. Are you Jasper?"

"Yes ma'am."

And then the door slams shut in his face.

"What the fu-" Rosalie stops in her tracks as the door swings open.

"Come in, come in. I'm sorry. You can't be too careful in this neighbourhood," The old woman says as she ushers them inside.

"What's happened? I couldn't understand a word she was saying on the phone. Is she okay?"

"Jas?"

He spins to the familiar voice, sees the familiar silhouette.

The same long chestnut hair, the same petite build. The same soulful brown eyes that he'd known since childhood.

But they were sad now. And fearful. And surrounded by a darkening bruise that took up half her face.

"Bells?" Rosalie's voice behind him is cracked and childlike, and before he's even really had a chance to process what exactly is going on in front of him, his niece has flown past him, wrapping her arms around the older woman.

Bella winced at Rosalie's embrace, pain radiating from her ribs.

"Shit Bella, I'm sorry," The young girl gasps, releasing Bella quickly.

"It's fine. I'm just a bit tender."

"Bella?" The closer he gets, there angrier he becomes.

Her face is a patchwork of black, blue and yellow.

The hand print on around her neck is what gets him though.

"Fuck Bella. What did he do?"

She flinches at that and her gaze drops to the floor. His hand rises, gently taking her face and raising her face, forcing her eyes to meet his.

"Bella what happened?"

"I...he... I was leaving him. He wasn't supposed to be home. But he came home early and he was so _mad._"

"James did this?" He asks.

He has always hated that guy. But he never, never thought that the man was capable of hurting Bella.

"He lost his job six months ago. And he just started drinking and he became so cruel and when it was me, it was fine but he hurt my kids Jazz. He _hurt _them."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want to bother you with all of this. I called my Mom. I was going to drive down and stay with her."

"Bella, you could never, ever bother me. Why would you go to your Mother's? You hate the woman."

"It was my only option Jasper. What else can I do? I can't stay here."

She's bordering on hysterical now, and he gathers her as gently to possible, pulling her against him.

"You come home with me. You and the rugrats take over the other spare bedroom. That's what." He says, before dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"We can't impose on you like that Jasper. You have your own life and we ca-"

"Yes you can. And you will."

"You have absolutely less than no choice Bella. You have to. If I have to spend the summer in that crazy little town, you are going to be there to keep me sane, and to stop me from smothering my dear Uncle in his sleep." Rosalie announces.

Both Bella and Jasper turn to find her dragging several duffel bags behind her, a baby bag slung across her chest and 2 small backpacks, one lilac and the other green.

"Deal with it. Accept it. It's not in any way up for discussion."

Mrs Cope was behind her, dragging two suitcases behind her.

"Stay here and lock the door behind you. We'll take these downstairs," Jasper adds, relieving Mrs Cope of her suitcases.

He walked out of the small apartment, his niece following behind him, and waited for the sound of the deadbolt before he made his may down the hall.

"This is completely fucked up," Rosalie whispers as they enter the elevator.

"I know."

"No. This is really, _really_ fucked up."

"I know Rose."

"Can we kill him?"

"I'm thinking about it," He replies as they leave the elevator, pushing open the door and entering the car park.

"Really?"

"No. Not really."

"I think you're lying," Rosalie sings as she slings the bags into the boot of the car.

"I am thinking about convincing Peter to go and pay him a visit."

"Don't send Peter. Send Edward."

"Why would I send Edward?"

"Because when he does that super intense scary quiet thing. It's legitimately terrifying."

"True. But Edward is for the most part fairly sane. I can convince Peter to kill a man for a six pack."

"You make a point."

They make their way back inside, both now more than a little drenched.

When they once again enter the apartment, Bella is once again standing in the hall, looking nervous, but this time there's a sleepy looking brunette in her arms.

"Is that everything?" He asks, running his hand over Poppy's hair, smiling as she reaches out to grab at him.

"Yeah. I was going to call a cab to get to the airport."

"Good. Everything is in the car. Where are the kids?" He asks.

"They're in the living room," Bella replies, gently dislodging the toddlers hand from Jasper's jumper.

Jasper moves quietly to the living room. There's a light on in the corner of the room, casting a small glow, and his eyes are immediately drawn to the two tiny bodies curled up on the couch.

He drops down onto his knees once he reaches them a hand reaching out to run over Isaac's hair, gently trying to wake the boy.

"Hey buddy. Time to wake up."

Despite the fact that he keeps his voice quiet and gentle, the boy wakes with a start, flinching backwards, before realising who's waking him up. Once he realises it's Jasper in front of him, he lunges forward, wrapping his skinny arms around Jasper's neck, propelling him backwards.

The sudden movement wakes the other sleeping child, and another tiny body is soon catapulted at him, and he ends up flat on his back.

"I missed you guys," He whispers as they cling to him.

"We're going to go and stay with Uncle Jasper for a while." Bella announces from the doorway, and both children hug him tighter, before releasing him and allowing him to clamber to his feet. Once he's standing, he watches as the children run to Rosalie, hugging her around the waist.

"Hey brats," Rose wraps her arms around the kids, hugging them tightly. "I've grabbed all your bags from the apartment. There anything else in there you need?"

"No," Isaac is quiet, clutching at Rosalie.

"Uh-uh."

"Good. It's time to roll," She replies, scooping Aubrey up and grabbing Isaac's hand.

Mrs Cope straps Poppy into her car seat, and Jasper approaches the older woman.

"If he comes back and causes you any issues, please call me," He asks quietly, scribbling his number on the notepad next to her phone.

"Honey, I hate to break it to you but if that asshole does show up then you ain't gonna be much help, what with being 4 hours away and all."

"I may be 4 hours away, but I have some pretty unsavoury acquaintances who live in Seattle."

"Well then I'll be sure to let you know." She smiles, reaching up to ruffle his head.

He doesn't really know how, as he's pretty sure he's at least a foot and a half taller than her.

He bends over and scoops up to car seat, and Poppy sends a gummy grin at him. The kid's a cutie, all big blue eyes and messy brown hair. She's gotten so much bigger since he last saw her. Then again, she'd only been a couple of weeks old.

He'd been around Isaac and Aubrey since they were born, and before this clusterfuck he'd never gone more than a couple of weeks without seeing them. He'd only gotten the chance to meet Poppy twice, and it made his heart ache in the strangest way.

He shakes his head to clear the thoughts, waiting patiently while Bella hugs Mrs Cope goodbye, sniffling into the older woman's shoulder before untangling herself.

"Come on. We've got a long drive and you guys can get some sleep in the car." He whispers, gently taking her hand.

The six of them leave the apartment, Rosalie shuffling slowly with the weight of the three year old in one arm, the five year old gently clinging to her arm.

The elevator makes some frankly terrifying noises with the six of them in it, and Jasper is vaguely happy that he isn't the only one who looks a little fucking terrified to be in the death trap.

When the doors finally open and they stumble out, he can practically hear the group exhale in relief.

That relief is short lived when they realise that the heavy rain from earlier is now a torrential downpour.

"Here, take Poppy and I'll drive the car right up to the door," He hands the car seat to Bella, and he can see the worry in her eyes.

He gives her what he hopes to got is a reassuring smile, and ducks out of the door, jacket pulled over his head, and sprints to the car. He jams the key into the ignition, starting the car as quickly as possible before he manoeuvres it to the front of the building, the drivers side closest to the door, and jumps out, leaving the engine running and the door open. He pulls open the back door, leaving it open before making his way back to Bella, Rose and the kids.

"Rosie, you and Miss Aubrey are in the back. I'll buckle the car seat in after you, so sit in the middle?" He asks his niece. He's definitely buying her a present for this.

This summer was supposed to be a respite from all of the drama and the crazy for the fifteen year old. So much for that.

"No problems. You ready Aubrey?" She asks, tucking the little girls head under her chin as she runs to the car. Jasper takes the car seat from Bella, and runs after them, shielding Poppy from as much of the rain as possible.

The baby still gets a little damp, but giggles at the splashes of water.

He leans into the car, buckling the straps in with Rosalie's help, before shutting the door firmly and making his way back to Isaac and Bella.

"Bells, you go get in the passenger side." He says, nodding with his head at the open door, before kneeling down to Isaac. He scoops the little boy into his arms, tucking the head of curly blonde hair under his chin before moving to back to the car.

He dives into the drivers seat, yanking the door behind him. He settles Isaac into the bench seat, and Bella pulls her seat belt over the two of them, hugging her son to her side. All six of them are a little drenched, and Jasper turns the heating up as high as it will go, before leaving the car park.

Bella twists her head, and watches the apartment building that's been the home of all her worst memories quickly fade into the distance as Jasper speeds away.

For the first time in months, the weight in her chest alleviates, and her breath comes easy. She turns to stare at Jasper.

She could have called him sooner. He's always been the white knight to her damsel in distress. But when she'd realised how poisonous James had become, how much she needed to get away, there's a part of her that wanted to do it on her own. To protect her kids on her own. And she'd left it so long, and hadn't wanted to burden him with her problems.

She knows deep down that the thought is stupid. Even if things hadn't gone so horribly tonight, it would have meant exposing her kids to the her mothers specific brand of venom. And that Jasper drove 4 hours in the middle of the night to get to her tells her that he doesn't think she's a burden. And he adores the kids, as much as they adore him.

But all that doesn't matter now.

Her kids are safe. She is safe.

That's all that matters.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah. So this chapter is a lot longer than the previous two. There won't be a set length for chapters. This one just kind of went on compared to the prologue and the first chapter. **

**Family Ties will be updated later in the week. Teen Wolf has take over my brain and I've ended up starting a story over on Ao3. I have a lot of Hale-pack feelings, okay?**


End file.
